At the end of 2011, Ms. Njeri Rionge had expressed to DCA Executive Director, a direct interest in competing for the soon to be vacant ICANN CEO position, and for this reason, was kindly requested by DCA to submit her resignation from the DCA Strategic Advisory Board for ethical/conflict of interest reasons.

This was done after due internal consultations with concerned parties. Accordingly, Njeri Rionge is no longer involved in DCA and DCA Registry Ltd either as a Board Member or shareholder and will not represent neither would she be affiliated with DCA in any capacity, now or in the near future.

Rionge served on the ICANN board of directors as a Nominating Committee appointee for two terms between 2003 and 2008.

While there’s a ban on current directors applying for the CEO position, I don’t believe there’s any such prohibition on former directors.

ICANN is currently interviewing would-be replacements for Rod Beckstrom, who intends to leave the organization in July after a three-year term.

No other candidates have been revealed to date.

The only other name being circulated in the rumor mill is Lesley Cowley, CEO of .uk registry Nominet and current chair of ICANN’s ccNSO, but I’ve no idea if she’s even interested.

Also, I think given some of the past Board choices, they should be far more diligent in their background checks, due diligence, etc.

According to Ms. Rionge’s site, her Toronto office address is 1920 Yonge Street, Suite 200. Try Googling that address — it’s nothing more than a shared office space, a virtual office operated by Regus.com. For someone described as one of Kenya’s “most successful entrepreneurs”, that seems a little…..understated.

Unless you’re Bill Gates, you’re not going to be even qualified for most jobs these days without an undergraduate degree. And Bill Gates *got* into Harvard — she didn’t, if those multiple sources are accurate.

I’d really love to see a list of ICANN staff without any undergraduate degrees.

But, perhaps ICANN’s Board is looking for something “different” — maybe it was Rod Beckstrom’s “passion networking” that got him the top job. That “life coaching” fits that kind of skill set!